Q3 Development Update
The time has come. We have finally been given the green light to talk about everything that has been going on in Q3. I am so pumped to share everything with you.
But first, a collage of randomly generated MicroBuddies:
Legal Review
As you might already know, fellow GOO farmer, we have been undergoing an extensive legal review regarding the mechanics and documentation of MicroBuddies gameplay for a while now. Well, after a long wait and tons of back and forth, I am thrilled to announce that the legal review of our game mechanics & documentation has been completed!
We worked through a few issues, and along the way, came up with some solutions that will make MicroBuddies an even more revolutionary game! I’ll be going into detail on this later in the post.
With that said, the project has been delayed quite a bit and we have added extra scope, so it does not look like we are going to be hitting our expected Q3 launch timing. But I think what we have in store instead is going to be much, much better for us, and I am confident that our new course is the right one. Let’s jump into it!
The Game Docs
Holy cow it’s finally here! After much review and adjustment, the game documentation in all its glory:
The rest of this post is dedicated to covering the major updates that have come about since we last spoke. Even greater detail can be obtained in the game documentation above. We also have news regarding the open beta and official launch!
The New GOO
The biggest item to come from our legal review was related to compliance challenges with respect to the GOO token.
At one point in the process, things began to look grim for the potential of the GOO token to even exist in the final version of the game. But like any great team, we put our heads together and found a solution that not only solved a lot of our problems but actually improved the game dramatically, too!
GOO will now be an ERC20 token for NFTs, a feature I was inspired to implement by Rarity Gold from Andre Cronje. See, while a normal ERC20 token is held by a user or a smart contract (address), the ERC20 GOO token will actually be held by the MicroBuddies NFTs themselves.
Under this implementation, two users cannot trade GOO. However, two MicroBuddies can 😉 . This achieves two very important things for us:
- GOO does not have to be closed-loop to the point of non-viability.
- GOO remains tethered to the game with less risk of becoming a speculative asset and negatively impacting the game economy.
What’s more, since GOO can be traded between MicroBuddies, it is possible for a robust in-game economy to develop around GOO, and even be implemented seamlessly into other games. Imagine a MicroBuddy shopkeeper in a big MMO selling items for GOO. Only other MicroBuddies could approach the shop-keep and transact with them!
There are many other unique ways we will be using this mechanic, such as maximum holdings capacity for Buddies based on their traits, which are discussed in detail in the game documentation! 😊
Solving Ethereum Fees
Ethereum gas fees have skyrocketed in Q3. Minting an NFT can easily cost in excess of $50 USD, and in our testnet for MicroBuddies, where we are constantly replicating and minting new buddies, combined with expensive game logic, this problem was amplified. In some cases, replicating a MicroBuddy a single time could cost over $300 USD in ETH!
With all of the extra time we’ve had for development, we’ve got another important announcement to make:
That’s right! We’re going to be launching on the Ethereum sidechain, Polygon! Gas fees here are often sub-penny and will save everyone a fortune, massively increasing the playability of the game. We plan to launch an Ethereum bridge later down the line for users who want to store their buddies in an extra safe place. The best of both worlds!
The MicroBuddies Beta
Last week, we opened up signups for the MicroBuddies beta. The response has been incredible, with most of our holders making an application. With that in mind, and in the spirit of doing a real test, we have decided that for the beta, we will be airdropping all Nano Factory Token holders their tokens on the testnet, 1:1! We will perform a snapshot of all token balances for this process at a future date.
Oh, and we’re going to be launching the beta on Polygon’s Mumbai testnet! More details on how to participate will come next week, through both e-mail and Discord.
The official launch date for the MicroBuddies open beta is October 5th, 2021.
The Official Launch
Because things have changed so much in the past weeks, we are taking on a new, community-focused launch strategy. During the open beta, we’re going to have a channel on Discord dedicated to discussing the state of the game, reporting bugs, and making suggestions for balancing the game. I will be working with testers very closely, and as a community, we will determine when the best launch date is. If there isn’t a clear majority decision right away, we will put it to a vote.
That’s about all I can fit in one post, and this is just the beginning! I’ve got so much more to talk about in the remaining weeks leading up to our beta and full launch, and we have so much more planned. Let’s goo this (✅ obligatory GOO pun complete).
See you soon!
